NC Supreme Court punts on student bra search case

Friday

Oct 5, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 5, 2012 at 1:52 PM

North Carolina's Supreme Court said Friday it wants to know who witnessed a contested drug search involving a 15-year-old at an alternative school who had to untuck her shirt and pull out her bra with her thumb.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

RALEIGH — North Carolina's Supreme Court said Friday it wants to know who witnessed a contested drug search involving a 15-year-old at an alternative school who had to untuck her shirt and pull out her bra with her thumb.

The state's high court on Friday struck down a lower appeal's court decision on behalf of the student that found the 2008 bra-lift search at Brunswick County Academy was "degrading, demeaning and highly intrusive."

State officials appealed that ruling and asked the Supreme Court to decide whether the search violated the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. The result is expected to affect North Carolina's 1.5 million public school students.

The Supreme Court said Friday it wants a lower court to find out more facts about what happened, including who was present when the unnamed girl was searched.

The search reportedly occurred in front of three adults, two of them men. Female students including the one identified only as T.A.S. were required to pull their undergarments away from their skin so that any hidden drugs or paraphernalia would fall out.

Attorneys for the state argued that the search was minimally invasive because no skin was shown.

The contested search of T.A.S. found drug paraphernalia and a white powder identified as Percocet. The student asked a trial judge to prevent the evidence from being used, but the judge refused. She pleaded guilty in March 2009 to two drug-related misdemeanors.